


Candlelight's Glow

by ghiblitears



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Character Study, Childhood Memories, Gen, Gen Work, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Fanart, Not Beta Read, One Shot, POV Child, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29047632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghiblitears/pseuds/ghiblitears
Summary: The first time Thanatos goes to collect a soul he is small, only a few millennia old, knee-high to the average shade.(A oneshot exploring Than's first time on the surface as a young Chthonic god.)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77





	Candlelight's Glow

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired heavily by [this adorable art](https://laquilasse.tumblr.com/post/635713596739010560/chthonic-twins-i-love-them-i-am-thinking-about) of young Thanatos and Hypnos, which got me thinking about how young Than would have been when he went to collect his first soul. The rest of the fic spiraled from there.

The first time Thanatos goes to collect a soul he is small, only a few millennia old, knee-high to the average shade. 

Charon takes him to the surface, and Thanatos appreciates the unspoken reassurance that he doesn't have to go alone — even growing up in the feared Underworld, in the sprawling and dark House of Hades, he holds a special kind of apprehension for the world above. It's too bright, too fast, too different, too much. Aboveground, the fleeting lives of mortals are too loud against his senses, especially in the way their red blood rushes through their veins and quickens their hearts. They lived and died as quickly as a candle’s flame, and shone just as brightly.

Mother Nyx had warned him as much. "You will be overwhelmed, child," she had said. "You are attuned to their lives in a way the rest of us are not, even your brothers. Do not be afraid; they will not fight you. All you must do is guide them down here to us." 

Thanatos is still afraid. He’s only left the House a handful of times, always under the watch of his mother or one of the other chthonic gods, and never with a purpose like this. On routine trips through Tartarus or Asphodel, when he was still learning about the how and why of the Underworld and its gods, he was usually in the shadow of Nyx and in the hand of his twin, and he wasn’t expected to act — just listen. Thanatos is good at listening.

He clutches Mort between small fingers and doesn't stray from Charon's side as they glide along the River Lethe. He is barely tolerant of going even from room to room in the House without Hypnos at his side, much less to the surface without him, and Charon's silent presence is a comfort, even if he and Thanatos aren’t as close . As they approach where he knows the one dying must be he can sense what's different, how the mortal's life flickers and fades, dimmed but brighter still than the shades that occupy the halls of the House; they cling to life desperately, weakly. It's cold up on the surface, and every inch of it is blanketed by fluffy white snow — the influence of Lady Demeter, or so he's told. 

They fell peacefully, quietly, next to a campfire of orange embers that are dying alongside them. The boat reaches the riverside and docks neatly, and Thanatos carefully steps off the edge before he lifts himself gently into the air. At his quiet approach the mortal glances up. 

"What— who are you?" They ask. Fear takes hold of their features. "Is it my time?" 

It can't be anything like what they were expecting — a god flying in on winged feet, or the ever-shifting form of the chthonic boatman. Instead, it is only little Than who comes to claim them. 

After a moment of apprehensive silence, Thanatos extends his hand. 

"Come with me," he says in a voice that is too small and nervous for the part he plays. He holds Mort tight to his body. 

"I don't want to die," the mortal whispers in a tone that echoes his own. "Please, don't do this. Don't let me disappear." 

At that, Thanatos frowns. "Disappear?" 

Is that what they think? That their lives stop here, that they cease to be once they go beneath the surface? That isn't anything like what he knows of the Underworld. 

"It isn't like that," he says. "Shades don’t disappear. They just find their place, that's all." 

The dying mortal says nothing, just stares back at him in confusion and curiosity. 

"The House is always full, and so is Asphodel. Elysium, too. Maybe someone is there, waiting for you?"

Because that’s the truth, isn’t it? He’s seen shades reunited, seen lost souls reconciled in the realm he calls home, moments of joy and relief among the fear that echoes through the buried realm. The ones that deserve peace get it. It isn’t a desolate landscape of nothing no matter what the people on the surface believe; Thanatos has seen it and knows better.

They flicker. "Are you certain?" 

"Yes." 

The shade slowly, hesitantly, reaches for him, and when they take his hand in theirs Thanatos guides them to the boat with patience he hadn't realized he had. 

The journey down the Lethe and into the Underworld is done in silence. Charon seldom speaks to those he ferries, and Thanatos isn’t sure what to say. The shade just watches him, as though waiting for him to do something bad. Thanatos twists Mort’s threadbare tail around in his fingers, and soon enough they paddle through the Styx to the doorstep of the House.

Thanatos takes their hand again and guides them to the lineup of souls — past Nyx and Hypnos, who watch serenely (her) and curiously (him). When the shade joins the line he steps back, his small hand clutched emptily around where theirs had been.

Thanatos may not have mastered his skills in disappearing and reappearing, but he has enough of a handle on them to teleport backwards towards his mother and twin, and the instant he reappears between them he feels tenfold more safe. Hypnos looks as though he wants to ask questions, but he’s quieted by a look from their mother.

He watches the shade — his shade, delivered by his own hand — finally stand before Lord Hades to receive their sentence, but he barely registers any of what's spoken. He sticks close to Nyx, wedges himself securely between her and Hypnos to watch it all unfold.

The shade recounts their life story in whispers that tangle themselves in all the rest of the House's murmurings, too quiet for Thanatos to pick out and hear clearly. Whatever life they lived was eventful; it takes several minutes for them to be done, and it catches the attention of the god of the dead — a rare act, indeed. After a moment, Hades makes a mark on a piece of parchment and sets it aside. 

"Very well. Elysium, then," he says, and the shade dissipates.

Her hand lands in his hair, gently. "You did well, my child." 

"I didn't do anything," he whispers, pulling himself closer towards her and Hypnos. 

"Your job is not only to bring the dead to us," she says, without elaboration. She looks down at them. “Hypnos, make sure your brother rests.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, child. Go on,” she says.

In an instant they’re transported to their shared room in Erebus. Hypnos hovers over and flops onto the bed without hesitation, but Thanatos settles himself more carefully. Sleep seems impossible with all of the thoughts in his head, and he turns his interaction with the shade over and over endlessly as he lays back against the pillows. He wonders what Nyx meant.

After a thought-filled moment, Hypnos’s curious face pops into view. His white curls frame his face like a cloud, and his facemask is askew on his head. “You aren’t sleeping.”

Thanatos resists the urge to pout. “I don’t need to.”

“Mom says you do, actually.” His fingers hover over Thanato’s forehead. “You got the shade, so you can sleep now.”

He’s not sure if it’s the eventful day that brings on exhaustion, or if it’s his twin’s powers. Regardless, he feels his eyes begin to slip shut of their own volition.

“But you gotta promise to tell me what it’s like up there when you wake up, okay?”

Thanatos thinks he responds in affirmation before sleep quickly claims him, and he falls into peaceful dreams of candlelight and whispers.

***  
He collects souls more easily after the first, leading them either by his hand or later, by his scythe. Most come quietly, some resist him, and a select few fight back. Thanatos learns that he cannot waver, and that fear is not necessary in order for them to follow. He learns that he can be the one who brings hope rather than despair.

Death approaches swiftly, but kindly, too, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Hades fandom! Y'all are so wonderful I had to join in on the fun with some writing. I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> My tumblr is cthoniccompanion and my twitter is @espressopidge  
> if you come scream at me about Hades i will love u forever


End file.
